people that are vegetarian

If you are one tell me why. If you are not tell me why

[jakethebake]

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/01-05/0128manure.jpg

[lucas9000]

i was vegan for two months once. i stopped because i like meat and dairy, and it just didn't seem right for me.

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/01-05/0128manure.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

good one

[diebitter]

No - bacon tastes good, pork chops taste good.

[ QUOTE ]
i was vegan for two months once. i stopped because i like meat and dairy, and it just didn't seem right for me.

[/ QUOTE ]
I was going to be vegan But I love pizza

[unlucky513]

vegans suck.

for every animal that a vegitarian doesn't eat, i will eat 3.

[jakethebake]

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good one

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/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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good one

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/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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Look at all that crap on fire. Good point

[ QUOTE ]
vegans suck.

for every animal that a vegitarian doesn't eat, i will eat 3.

[/ QUOTE ]

You must eat all the time.

[theghost]

[ QUOTE ]
If you are not tell me why

[/ QUOTE ]
Meat/animal fat has a lot of flavor.

ps: I eat lots of veggies too.

[jakethebake]

I'm not a rabbit or a cow.

[STLantny]

Meat has cholestrol. Cholestrol is a precurser to testosterone. Testosterone makes you a manly man. Im a manly man.

[RunDownHouse]

Where is mah box of toasted raviolis?

[lucas9000]

[ QUOTE ]
Meat has cholestrol. Cholestrol is a precurser to testosterone. Testosterone makes you a manly man. Im a manly man.

[/ QUOTE ]

also when you're vegan, you pretty much have to eat a fair amount of soy, which can make you a less manly man (depending who you ask) /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ QUOTE ]
No - bacon tastes good, pork chops taste good. [b]steak tastes good. Ham tastes good. Shrimp taste good. Roast beef tastes good.[b]

[/ QUOTE ]

Etc

[STLantny]

[ QUOTE ]
Where is mah box of toasted raviolis?

[/ QUOTE ]

Where's my money.

[ QUOTE ]
Meat has cholestrol. Cholestrol is a precurser to testosterone. Testosterone makes you a manly man. Im a manly man.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is funny... My Mother in law said I was not a man becouse I am a vegetarian.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
That is funny... My Mother in law said I was not a man becouse I am a vegetarian.

[/ QUOTE ]

She's right. Go have a burger.

[codewarrior]

My girlfriend's a vegeterian, which pretty much makes me one, too. But I do love the taste of a good burger.

[STLantny]

[ QUOTE ]
My girlfriend's a vegeterian, which pretty much makes me one, too. But I do love the taste of a good burger.

[/ QUOTE ]


You DEFINETLY need to eat more meat.

[Sephus]

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[ QUOTE ]
My girlfriend's a vegeterian, which pretty much makes me one, too. But I do love the taste of a good burger.

[/ QUOTE ]


You DEFINETLY need to eat more meat.

[/ QUOTE ]

it was another pulp fiction quote.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
My girlfriend's a vegeterian, which pretty much makes me one, too. But I do love the taste of a good burger.

[/ QUOTE ]

Waaaait a minute...Your girlfriend? Are you talking about TG? You've been calling her your wife. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[spamuell]

Jake look at the post directly above yours.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Jake look at the post directly above yours.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh ok. Just missed an easy reference. I thought I was REALLY missing something good.

[turnipmonster]

no one's given a serious answer, but here's mine. when I was a freshman in college, I had a really busy schedule and ate really terribly. I had a vegetarian friend and it seemed to me like giving myself an artificial restriction like not eating meat might be an interesting experiment.

this ended up really changing the way I thought about eating. I couldn't just stop by wendy's anymore, I actually had to think about what I was putting in my body all the time. also I explored cooking all different types of non meat dishes, which are generally more creative than marinating chicken or something /images/graemlins/smile.gif.

so for me it was never really a moral thing, but a way for me to force myself to think about what I was eating. what was a little surprising is that I completely lost my taste for meat entirely, I never missed meat or craved it and a steak is no more appetizing to me than a shoe. the only kind of meat thing I eat very occasionally is sushi. I don't eat a lot of dairy but do enjoy cheese.

finding stuff to eat has never ever been an issue for me, and I've spent tons of time on the road in the US and in europe. you have to be creative, but in general I eat much better on the road than the other guys.

in restaurants, some of the best meals I've had were at places where there was no vegetarian entree, so I asked the chef to make me something and be creative. never talked to a chef who didn't love doing this and go out of their way to make something great. lots of times they'll come out to chat and see how I liked the meal.

lots of people think vegetarians eats pounds of tofu and seitan and fake meat, but I actually hate all that stuff, excepting the occasional well made veggie burger. I eat a lot of normal things that don't have meat in them just like anyone else, although I do cook for myself a lot and eat a lot of indian food. interestingly enough, my parents, who always ate meat, are now pretty much vegetarian also. my mom always cooks when I visit and they discovered a lot of recipes that they really liked that are vegetarian and don't really eat any meat anymore.

--turnipmonster

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
no one's given a serious answer, but here's mine.

[/ QUOTE ]

My answers were serious.

[vulturesrow]

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That is funny... My Mother in law said I was not a man becouse I am a vegetarian.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mothers-in-law are generally evil. Yours sounds pretty smart. 'Course I dont blame her for being worried about her daughter being married to a rabbit food eating wimp. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Phoenix1010]

I've been a vegetarian for 9 years, and a vegan for 5. Short version: my idea of morality entails living one's life to the fullest while causing the least amount of pain possible to everyone else. Animals feel pain, therefore I'd like to avoid giving it to them unless I have to. It so happens that we, as a society, don't have to. In fact, in a lot of ways, it's better if we don't. While I know that I'm not saving any cows by not eating hamburgers (someone in this thread has already offered to eat my share of hamburgers for me, generous soul), I hope that by my lifestyle I can act as an example that one can live a full and healthy life without the animal products that we take for granted, and sometimes delude ourselves into regarding as necessities.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been a vegetarian for 9 years, and a vegan for 5. Short version: my idea of morality entails living one's life to the fullest while causing the least amount of pain possible to everyone else. Animals feel pain, therefore I'd like to avoid giving it to them unless I have to. It so happens that we, as a society, don't have to. In fact, in a lot of ways, it's better if we don't. While I know that I'm not saving any cows by not eating hamburgers (someone in this thread has already offered to eat my share of hamburgers for me, generous soul), I hope that by my lifestyle I can act as an example that one can live a full and healthy life without the animal products that we take for granted, and sometimes delude ourselves into regarding as necessities.

[/ QUOTE ]

Kumbaya my Lord, kumbayaaaa... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been a vegetarian for 9 years, and a vegan for 5. Short version: my idea of morality entails living one's life to the fullest while causing the least amount of pain possible to everyone else. Animals feel pain, therefore I'd like to avoid giving it to them unless I have to. It so happens that we, as a society, don't have to. In fact, in a lot of ways, it's better if we don't. While I know that I'm not saving any cows by not eating hamburgers (someone in this thread has already offered to eat my share of hamburgers for me, generous soul), I hope that by my lifestyle I can act as an example that one can live a full and healthy life without the animal products that we take for granted, and sometimes delude ourselves into regarding as necessities.

[/ QUOTE ]

I refuse to disrespect thousands of years of hard work by my anscestors getting to the top of the food chain by wasting it by acting like I'm on the bottom. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
Kumbaya my Lord, kumbayaaaa... /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Hold me.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
I refuse to disrespect thousands of years of hard work by my anscestors getting to the top of the food chain by wasting it by acting like I'm on the bottom. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Very nice! I'll use this sometime. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Phoenix1010]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've been a vegetarian for 9 years, and a vegan for 5. Short version: my idea of morality entails living one's life to the fullest while causing the least amount of pain possible to everyone else. Animals feel pain, therefore I'd like to avoid giving it to them unless I have to. It so happens that we, as a society, don't have to. In fact, in a lot of ways, it's better if we don't. While I know that I'm not saving any cows by not eating hamburgers (someone in this thread has already offered to eat my share of hamburgers for me, generous soul), I hope that by my lifestyle I can act as an example that one can live a full and healthy life without the animal products that we take for granted, and sometimes delude ourselves into regarding as necessities.

[/ QUOTE ]

I refuse to disrespect thousands of years of hard work by my anscestors getting to the top of the food chain by wasting it by acting like I'm on the bottom. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the funniest one I've heard. Second best was my baby sister asking me "if you like animals so much, why are you always eating their food?"

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Second best was my baby sister asking me "if you like animals so much, why are you always eating their food?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Also very good. That one will be filed away as well. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

This is the funniest one I've heard. Second best was my baby sister asking me "if you like animals so much, why are you always eating their food?"

LOL

[SL__72]

http://www.photosntravels.com/awfgalerie/mediafiles/l4.jpg

[jakethebake]

The caption here needs to read: "Which would you rather be?"

http://www.photosntravels.com/awfgalerie/mediafiles/l4.jpg

[vulturesrow]

How about a caption:

What looks tastier, dried up green/brown stuff, or nice red stuff? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

jakethebake
Why so mad no one said you sould be a vegetarian.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
jakethebake
Why so mad no one said you sould be a vegetarian.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mad? Who's mad?

[vulturesrow]

He is just a grumpy old man. Most of ignore Pops' antics.

[RunDownHouse]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been a vegetarian for 9 years, and a vegan for 5. Short version: my idea of morality entails living one's life to the fullest while causing the least amount of pain possible to everyone else. Animals feel pain, therefore I'd like to avoid giving it to them unless I have to. It so happens that we, as a society, don't have to. In fact, in a lot of ways, it's better if we don't. While I know that I'm not saving any cows by not eating hamburgers (someone in this thread has already offered to eat my share of hamburgers for me, generous soul), I hope that by my lifestyle I can act as an example that one can live a full and healthy life without the animal products that we take for granted, and sometimes delude ourselves into regarding as necessities.

[/ QUOTE ]
You know plants scream when hurt, right?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've been a vegetarian for 9 years, and a vegan for 5. Short version: my idea of morality entails living one's life to the fullest while causing the least amount of pain possible to everyone else. Animals feel pain, therefore I'd like to avoid giving it to them unless I have to. It so happens that we, as a society, don't have to. In fact, in a lot of ways, it's better if we don't. While I know that I'm not saving any cows by not eating hamburgers (someone in this thread has already offered to eat my share of hamburgers for me, generous soul), I hope that by my lifestyle I can act as an example that one can live a full and healthy life without the animal products that we take for granted, and sometimes delude ourselves into regarding as necessities.

[/ QUOTE ]
You know plants scream when hurt, right?

[/ QUOTE ]

I did not know that. Tell me more. a link would be nice

Vegetarian.

Animals suffer to get the dinner table. The meat/poultry/egg industry is very cruel, most people don't know about it. I choose not to cause pain or suffering where I can help it.

Also, vegetarians get far less bowel and stomach cancer than meat eaters, less angina (coronary artery disease), and less kidney disease. None of the above applies to fish or shellfish though (but I don't eat them either, don't like the taste).

[istewart]

If you can't eat a nice rare steak once in awhile you're living a noob life.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
If you can't eat a nice rare steak once in awhile you're living a noob life.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[/ QUOTE ]

Hilarious!

[RunDownHouse]

Try this (http://www.fuckinggoogleit.com/).

I wasn't really serious, just wondering how far hippies would go with this. I did hear about that before, though, and found this (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320720.800.html) after about 2 seconds of work.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you can't eat a nice rare steak once in awhile you're living a noob life.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[/ QUOTE ]

Hilarious!

[/ QUOTE ]

jakethebake reads every post in hope someone can make a good point for him. lol

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you can't eat a nice rare steak once in awhile you're living a noob life.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[/ QUOTE ]

Hilarious!

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't even read every thread, much less post. But I thought the RWE tag was hilarious.

jakethebake reads every post in hope someone can make a good point for him. lol

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Try this (http://www.fuckinggoogleit.com/).

I wasn't really serious, just wondering how far hippies would go with this. I did hear about that before, though, and found this (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320720.800.html) after about 2 seconds of work.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did look it up: plants "may" feel pain but dont scream

you said
You know plants scream when hurt, right?

[RunDownHouse]

Look harder. Some studies have found they vibrate at a certain frequency in response to certian stimuli, if I remember correctly. Hippies have interpreted this as "screaming."

You're awfully demanding.

[ QUOTE ]
Look harder. Some studies have found they vibrate at a certain frequency in response to certian stimuli, if I remember correctly. Hippies have interpreted this as "screaming."


I dont
You're awfully demanding.

[/ QUOTE ]

[bravos1]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Try this (http://www.fuckinggoogleit.com/).

I wasn't really serious, just wondering how far hippies would go with this. I did hear about that before, though, and found this (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15320720.800.html) after about 2 seconds of work.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did look it up: plants "may" feel pain but dont scream

you said
You know plants scream when hurt, right?

[/ QUOTE ]
First sentence of the study... "IT IS now possible to hear plants scream."

[bravos1]

[ QUOTE ]
I couldn't just stop by wendy's anymore, I actually had to think about what I was putting in my body all the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't get it /images/graemlins/confused.gif Everytime I go to Wndy's I have to think about what I am putting in my body.. "Hmm Double w/ Cheese today? Oh, maybe a triple.., OK a double, a chili, and a order of nuggets it is!"

Maybe I should become a veggy.. it would make it easier for sure..

Waiter : "Sir, what will you have today"
Me : "Just bring me a plate, I'll pick some grass out front"

/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[bustedchucks]

im a vegablearian

its laziness, carrots are much easier to catch than antelope.

actually methinks its pretty gross "what shall i have for breakfast this morning....mmmmmm mmmmm a corpse and an abortion (ham and eggs). breakfast of champs.

[jojobinks]

the responses in this thread, taken as a whole, describe why many vegetarians are reluctant to speak about reasons why they choose to not eat meat. the responses here are not particular to OOT. they're pretty much the way the general public responds to vegetarianism.

[turnipmonster]

generally the negative responses I get are either incredulous , i.e. "if you don't eat meat then what on earth do you eat? just tofu?", or argumentative "well do you not use other animal products then? you know beer is fined with fish bladders, right?" and other such nonsense.

I just usually explain my reasons aren't particularly moral and I think everyone (including me) should be able to eat whatever the hell they want.

I was vegetarian (borderline vegan, but I was lazy about that sometimes) for four years, but it was for health reasons, not any moral reasons. I lived with this buddhist girl (from china, I'm anti-hippy) and she was pretty strict about her diet. Since I mostly ate with her, I got used to her diet. I felt much, much better once I cut meat and dairy out of my diet. Like, insanely better.

I eat meat (and sometimes dairy) these days, mostly because there arose a lot of situations where it was inconvenient to be vegan, and while I was willing to break my diet on those occaisons, I'd get violently ill a large portion of the time. I'm still mostly vegan but I try to have meat at least twice a week and dairy once, just so my body remains accustomed to it. I mostly stick to fish for the meat, but I do have steak maybe once a month.

[Brainwalter]

[ QUOTE ]
im a vegablearian

its laziness, carrots are much easier to catch than antelope.

actually methinks its pretty gross "what shall i have for breakfast this morning....mmmmmm mmmmm a corpse and an abortion (ham and eggs). breakfast of champs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope, the eggs we eat are unfertilized.

Here's why I don't like the anti-factory farming argument. To me, not eating meat becuase it supports bad practices is like not wearing shoes becuase they were made by slave labor in East Asia.
Factory farming is really bad, but
1. Being vegan or vegetarian is a lot of work (I live with a vegan so I kind of know) and
2. It accomplishes practicly nothing. There are probably 100 things you could do that would me more effective and would require much less effort

[ QUOTE ]
Here's why I don't like the anti-factory farming argument. To me, not eating meat becuase it supports bad practices is like not wearing shoes becuase they were made by slave labor in East Asia.
Factory farming is really bad, but
1. Being vegan or vegetarian is a lot of work (I live with a vegan so I kind of know) and
2. It accomplishes practicly nothing. There are probably 100 things you could do that would me more effective and would require much less effort

[/ QUOTE ]

Easy = right?
Is that what you are saying

[Rootabager]

Meat taste like murder, and murder taste pretty god damn good.

[Phoenix1010]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's why I don't like the anti-factory farming argument. To me, not eating meat becuase it supports bad practices is like not wearing shoes becuase they were made by slave labor in East Asia.
Factory farming is really bad, but
1. Being vegan or vegetarian is a lot of work (I live with a vegan so I kind of know) and

[/ QUOTE ]

I am a vegan, so I definitely know. There's no work involved. Paying a little more attention to what you eat isn't hard labor. How does this refute the anti-factory farming argument?


[ QUOTE ]
2. It accomplishes practicly nothing. There are probably 100 things you could do that would me more effective and would require much less effort

[/ QUOTE ]

Not everyone is trying to accomplish anything in particular. Some of us just conscientiously choose not to support an industry we disagree with. No one can change the world on his own. You can resign yourself to do nothing, or you can do what you can. To each his own. And what is this about effort? I'm the laziest guy in the world. It really doesn't make me sweat to ask the waiter if they use dairy products in the pasta.

[Marlow]

About 7 years ago, I was living in a house in S.F. where anything cooked in the house had to be vegan. It was a big place, and there was a range of peopel who lived there. Some ate meat, some did not. Out of respect for those who did not, we never brought any meat into the house. Anyway, I got really interested in the moral implications of eating meat.

Then one day I was on Market Street playing chess with some people who hung out down there all the time. Most of them were on the street or close to it. Anyway, one guy was really high on crack and got into an argument with a guy I was pretty friendly with. The drugged guy pulled out a huge knife and chased my friend all over the sidewalk. Everyone was laughing because we though he was just joking around (normally, he was a total goofball). Finally, he caught up with my friend and stabbed him in the back and side 7 times.

To make an already long story shorter, something sorta clicked for me at that moment. Seeing this vicious violent act made me literally sick to my stomach. I was in a daze for 24 hours. I couldn't sleep. Then the next time I went to eat meat, I couldn't do it. In my mind, I had linked the violence that I witnessed with what an animal goes through when it dies. The meat was pretty unappealing after that.

Now I'm a vegetarian just because it's how I am. It's just normal now, and I don't really think about my "reasons" unless someone asks.

I'd also like to add here that I don't really care what other people eat. I want people to respect my choices, so I completely respect theirs.

Marlow

[Marlow]

[ QUOTE ]
If you can't eat a nice rare steak once in awhile you're living a noob life.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[/ QUOTE ]

Even a veggie like me can recognise true comic talent.

nh

Marlow

[BottlesOf]

[ QUOTE ]
I refuse to disrespect thousands of years of hard work by my anscestors getting to the top of the food chain by wasting it by acting like I'm on the bottom.

[/ QUOTE ]


Uhhhh....

[BottlesOf]

Releasing gas isn't screaming, it's farting. Plants fart.

[RunDownHouse]

Note: I don't actually believe plants scream, and couldn't care less if they did. I'm positive animals make noise when you kill them, and that hasn't given me pause yet.

[bravos1]

[ QUOTE ]
Note: I don't actually believe plants scream, and couldn't care less if they did. I'm positive animals make noise when you kill them, and that hasn't given me pause yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly.. and I make noise when I eat them too .. Mmmmmmmmm

[phage]

[ QUOTE ]

Not everyone is trying to accomplish anything in particular. Some of us just conscientiously choose not to support an industry we disagree with.

[/ QUOTE ]
Would you agree that factory farming for the purpose of vegetable production may be very harmful to the environment? Could one object to the practices that are used to provide us with such an abundant and ready supply of produce?

[turnipmonster]

[ QUOTE ]

Now I'm a vegetarian just because it's how I am. It's just normal now, and I don't really think about my "reasons" unless someone asks.

I'd also like to add here that I don't really care what other people eat. I want people to respect my choices, so I completely respect theirs.

[/ QUOTE ]

agree 100%

Ack, no, that's not what I meant. I meant that, if being vegan is your way of combating the industry, you're picking a really ineffective and inefficent way to do so.

Of course, this is largely predicated on vegan/vegetarianism being a signifigant amount of effort. If it's just something you naturally do, ok. But, I see my friend spend a lot of time looking at ingredient lists and, when traveling, it is definitly a challenge to find acceptable food.

The other day same friend was hungry but ended up not being able to make a sandwich because the bread that I had bought had some non-vegan ingredient in it. What did this accomplish? I probably threw away the last part of the loaf a few days later, and he wouldn't have even known if it was vegan or not, unless he read the fine print on the package.

Why not do something proactive instead. Spending just a few hours a year writing letter to congressmen would probably be more effective than a specific daily diet.

[Phoenix1010]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Not everyone is trying to accomplish anything in particular. Some of us just conscientiously choose not to support an industry we disagree with.

[/ QUOTE ]
Would you agree that factory farming for the purpose of vegetable production may be very harmful to the environment? Could one object to the practices that are used to provide us with such an abundant and ready supply of produce?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course. It's not all black and white. You can find fault with almost anything. It's up to the individual to weigh his priorities and his judgements, and come to his own conclusions on what is tolerable, and how, if at all, one should react. As I said, to each his own.

[jackdaniels]

[ QUOTE ]
Ack, no, that's not what I meant. I meant that, if being vegan is your way of combating the industry, you're picking a really ineffective and inefficent way to do so.

Of course, this is largely predicated on vegan/vegetarianism being a signifigant amount of effort. If it's just something you naturally do, ok. But, I see my friend spend a lot of time looking at ingredient lists and, when traveling, it is definitly a challenge to find acceptable food.

The other day same friend was hungry but ended up not being able to make a sandwich because the bread that I had bought had some non-vegan ingredient in it. What did this accomplish? I probably threw away the last part of the loaf a few days later, and he wouldn't have even known if it was vegan or not, unless he read the fine print on the package.

Why not do something proactive instead. Spending just a few hours a year writing letter to congressmen would probably be more effective than a specific daily diet.

[/ QUOTE ]

This kind of clear headed writing has no place in OOT. Poof be gone!

[phage]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Not everyone is trying to accomplish anything in particular. Some of us just conscientiously choose not to support an industry we disagree with.

[/ QUOTE ]
Would you agree that factory farming for the purpose of vegetable production may be very harmful to the environment? Could one object to the practices that are used to provide us with such an abundant and ready supply of produce?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course. It's not all black and white. You can find fault with almost anything. It's up to the individual to weigh his priorities and his judgements, and come to his own conclusions on what is tolerable, and how, if at all, one should react. As I said, to each his own.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree completely. It just seems as though I have been faced with so many arguments regarding the horror and torture inflicted upon livestock. I suppose those opposed to meat production are much more passionate about that subject...

[FeliciaLee]

I was for about 30 years. I have no idea why. My Mom said I didn't even like the meat flavored baby food.

It had nothing to do with religion or personal beliefs (I was born and raised in the midwest), I just didn't care for meat. I was always a big seafood eater, though.

One day I got a craving for chicken. I was about 32, I think. I started gradually eating meat, and then wondered why I'd hated it for so long.

I still don't care for steak, it tastes like a lump of lead to me. Go figure. But I like pork, some turkey and chicken and certain cuts of beef.

Felicia /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Now I'm a vegetarian just because it's how I am. It's just normal now, and I don't really think about my "reasons" unless someone asks.

I'd also like to add here that I don't really care what other people eat. I want people to respect my choices, so I completely respect theirs.

[/ QUOTE ]

agree 100%

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too. The reason why I put up this post is becouse people ask me and I dont know what to say. I was hoping to get something good to say. I still dont know

[SL__72]

There has to be SOME reason why you don't eat meat. Do you not like it? Do you feel bad about eating it? Do you not corelate it with food? Does it seem unhealthy to you? If there is NO reason I suggest you start eating it right away because damn... you're missing out.

[Marlow]

[ QUOTE ]
Me too. The reason why I put up this post is becouse people ask me and I dont know what to say. I was hoping to get something good to say. I still dont know

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds to me like it's just a simple preference for you. Nothing wrong with that. I don't really like chocolate cake either. People often react to this in horror. My best explanation is that I just don't like the taste.

This is a good way to go because then people don't feel judged by your personal decision (which, clearly, is exactly what a lot of meat eaters feel when they hear a person's vegetarian).

Marlow

[Phoenix1010]

Ok I see what you mean. I agree that anyone who thinks he's fighting the industry by not eating meat is delusional. There are much more proactive ways to make your personal difference. However, passive non-support is the first step. It's hard to morally denounce something that you're still actively supporting every day. It's why you won't see the head of PETA eating a burger. There are levels of hyporcrisy, this one is up there. Anyway, I doubt your friend is being a vegan to try to fight the Man. The fact that he's sweating the details probably means that he is that he is more concerned with his own making sure his own actions coincide with his sense of morals.

My Mom will ask me every time I see her (after 15+ years) so what do you eat again and why?

[UseThePeenEnd]

I like cooked dead flesh. Particularly when I saw it walking in the woods the previous day.

Venison is lean, the fat in it is more the 'good' fat than animals raised for slaughter. Pecan-crusted grill-smoked dove. Blackened bear steaks rule. Oyster and cornbread stuffed quail wrapped in bacon and broiled rules empires.

[SL__72]

Can't say I've had dove but the rest of those are good. My personal favorite is Bison though.

[Marlow]

[ QUOTE ]
My Mom will ask me every time I see her (after 15+ years) so what do you eat again and why?

[/ QUOTE ]

I took this for a while, but now I get kinda pissed off when people are this obtuse. This, to me, is extremely disrespectful. How you navigate this with your Mom is quite dependant on your relationship. I got my Dad to stop by saying things like "strictly human tongues" or "the entrails of my fallen enemies" or "um... veggies, Dad. Vegetarians eat vegetables." This pissed him off but it worked pretty quickly.

Marlow

[Ray Zee]

unless its organic meat or dairy you get antibotics that were given the cows, steroids and growth hormones from their feed. the feed which gives mad cow disese has been banned from cattle food. but not from chicken or farmed fish. so far no one has gotten mad cow from those things. yet.
the meat is not inspected well and contains lots of bacteria that you may or may not kill on cooking. you dont on rare meat.
meat eaters have a lot higher rate of heart problems and cancer. as you get older you will have lots of friends with triple bypasses and getting cancer treatments. may or may not have been from the food they ate but a good chance of it. i have lots of friends in the ground that only lasted till 60. have a nice burger.

[colgin]

Since I am at work I will give you the short answer and, to the extent anyone is interested, try to supplement it later over the weekend. In light of the question you asked, "if you are one tell me why," I will tell you my story as to why I became a vegetarian as opposed to maing the argumentative case (that I believe can be made) for why people should be vegetarian.

I became a vegetarian about 5 years ago. First I gave up meat and poultry and then fish followed several months thereafter.

I had probably become uncomfortable eating animals for severla years, and that grew as a few of my friends became vegetarians for ethical/moral reasons during or after law school. As a general matter, when very smart people who I respect take a strong position on something I usually think I owe it to myself to decide whether they might be correct. But with vegetarianism, probably like a lot of other people, I avoided the issue for a long time. Let's admit it. Not many of us want to think too much about where meat comes from. Moreover, what if my friends were right. If I agreed with their choices would I really be up to changing the way I eat. Hell for years I had tried to lose a lot of weight(which would have had very immediate benefits to me) and had failed pretty regularly. So, best not to think too much about this.

Like I said I became increasingly uncomfortable with meat eating. Then beginning in 1999 I found myself having much more contactwith animals. It became quite clear that qute apart from the bigger issue of how great is animal intelligence (and I would submit that it is higher than most people give credit, but agin thatis another thread), that animals quite clearly were capable of degrees of happiness and pain and were clearly susceptible to fear, pain and suffering. In light of that I felt I had a duty to examine the nature of factory farming in America to see if the practices that supplied meat to the table were ones I condoned. So at least initially I avoided the question of whether it was per se wrong to ea animals and focused on whether I could condone (through my eating decisions) the practices that provide 99+% of the meat in this country.

Suffice it to say that the intensive agricultural farming conditions with respect to animals is horrendous. Even people who haven't researched this probably suspect it isn't pretty. But unless you have really researched this (and there is plenty of material available none of which is pleasant) you have no [censored] idea how terrible the treatment of animals is. Again, a full litany isbeyond the scope of this scope of this post but here you can get a sense of what is typical. The following description is from Matthew Scully, a pro-life conservative who was speech writer for George W. Bush during his first term:

"At the Smithfield mass-confinement hog farms I toured in North Carolina, the visitor is greeted by a bedlam of squealing, chain rattling, and horrible roaring. To maximize the use of space and minimize the need for care, the creatures are encased row after row, 400 to 500 pound mammals trapped without relief inside iron crates seven feet long and 22 inches wide. They chew maniacally on bars and chains, as foraging animals will do when denied straw, or engage in stereotypical nest-building with the straw that isn’t there, or else just lie there like broken beings. The spirit of the place would be familiar to police who raided that Tennessee puppy-mill run by Stanley and Judy Johnson, only instead of 350 tortured animals, millions—and the law prohibits none of it.

Efforts to outlaw the gestation crate have been dismissed by various conservative critics as “silly,” “comical,” “ridiculous.” It doesn’t seem that way up close. The smallest scraps of human charity—a bit of maternal care, room to roam outdoors, straw to lie on—have long since been taken away as costly luxuries, and so the pigs know the feel only of concrete and metal. They lie covered in their own urine and excrement, with broken legs from trying to escape or just to turn, covered with festering sores, tumors, ulcers, lesions, or what my guide shrugged off as the routine “pus pockets.”"

In light of this type of information, I decidedI could not condone or be a part of the pain inflicted upon these billions of animals per year. Over time I came to the belief that animals do in fact have fundamental rights and that being used as a resource solely for humans own ends regardless of how unnecessary those ends are is wrong. However, those arguments again are more complicated. I would just say that quite apart from whether this "animal rights" position is correct I would still not eat animals as my sense of mercy would dictate not toparticipate in what I think is a competely inhuman system.

On that note, for those of you who don't believe in animal rights, I would suggest thatyou at least read the aforementioned Matthew Scully's book "Dominion". Scully is not really in the animal rights camp but takes up the mercy argument as eloquently as I think is capable of being done.

Finally, I hear a lot that we ethical vegetarians are being too sentimental over cute animals. But then people will say, oh I could never give up my juicy hamburger, my stuffed chicken, etc, anyway. Well, who is being sentimental now. I guess if I have to be a sentamentalist I will do so on the side of life - that is, giving these sentient creatures the opportunity to enjoy their small pleasures and live in the absence of confinement and ghastly pain rather than gving myself some "tasty" thing that I don't realy need.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

This is the short answer?

[colgin]

[ QUOTE ]
This is the short answer?

[/ QUOTE ]

NH. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

off to get some poker in
have a good weekend

[Fishwhenican]

I eat meat because I am am Omnivore, as are all human beings!

I do not have anything against vegitarians. If someone prefers to not eat meat that is simply their choice and that is fine.

As a matter of fact, I LOVE vegitarians. I eat them all the time!!!

Look, just do not be a vegitarian that attacks my wanting to eat meat for some stupid altruistic reasons. We are made to eat meat. It is perfectly natural and a part of what we are.

I prefer to eat what I kill myself. My family and I eat mainly Deer, Elk, Antelope and the fish that we catch. It is a very rare occasion that we are eating any other meat product when we are at home, other than the occasional Pork product or when we run out of Elk Burger and have regular beef hamburgers on the grill. I have an intimate relationship with my food. I saw it when it was alive. I shot it with either my bow or rifle. I watched it die. I gave thanks to that animal for the gift of life it gives to me and my family. I got my hands bloody with it's blood while I field dressed it. I worked to get it out of the woods (which is really not the most fun part usually). I relive this experience each and every time I pull a package of meat out of the freezer and look at the label to see which animal it was. I remember the experience and all that went into it. I LOVE animals!

Man, all this talk is making me hungry for a very rare, thick, juicy elk steak!

FIRE UP THE GRILL!!!!!

[chesspain]

[ QUOTE ]

I refuse to disrespect thousands of years of hard work by my anscestors getting to the top of the food chain by wasting it by acting like I'm on the bottom. /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL

[Fishwhenican]

Oh YA!
I forgot about the buffalo/Bison in the freezer. Really really good meat!!!
Last one I shot I got with my bow.
Now that was cool!!!!

[chesspain]

[ QUOTE ]
I was [a vegetarian] for about 30 years.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I was always a big seafood eater, though.

[/ QUOTE ]

We really don't need the rulebook for this one, do we? /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[Fishwhenican]

Good for you! Stick to your guns and do not eat meat for your own personal reasons. I actually can respect that even though I am a died in the wool meat eating, plant eating, leather wearing, top of the food chain predator.

Personally, I think you are wrong, but it is certainly your right to have your own opinion and to be wrong.

See, I do believe you have rights. The rights that are granted to all human beings living in a civilized society. Mother Nature, however, does not grant any such rights to the animals in our world. Have you ever watched the Discovery Channel and watched true nature in action? Animals kill other animals for food all the time. They also do not do it in a nice pretty way. It is usually violent and bloody. Nature is pretty damn rough and tough and that is why those animals have survived as long as they have.

Do think that farm raised animals live in the most plesant of conditions, no. Do I think buying meat from the grocery in nice wrapped packages is natural, no. But NONE of what most people eat is natural. It was raised or grown by someone else en mass so that people who live in huge cities have a chance for survival. These are people who wouldn't stand a chance of surviving on their own in the wild. They depend on others to grow, raise, kill and process their food.

Killng and eating animals is perfectly natural and part of what we are. If people choose not to eat meat, great. Just please do not attack my preference to kill, cook and eat those tasty little critters!

[RunDownHouse]

So if you went hunting, you would have no ethical or moral problems eating the meat?

[colgin]

[ QUOTE ]
So if you went hunting, you would have no ethical or moral problems eating the meat?

[/ QUOTE ]

No. Please re-read my post as tried to describe the evolution of my beliefs. I believe that animals have a general right not to be hunted for food and be eaten for food. For purposes of that post I decided not to get all bogged down in rights theory. Howeverm in arriving at my beliefs I initially decidd that regardless of the ultimate question of animal rights I could not condone the intensive factory farming that occurs here and abroad.

[RunDownHouse]

Oh, right right. I guess that kind of got lost in the rest of your short response.

[colgin]

[ QUOTE ]
Mother Nature, however, does not grant any such rights to the animals in our world.

[/ QUOTE ]

So says you (and in fairness others do as well). I would disagree, however. My initial post was not meant to get bogged down in rights theories though and was just the story of my personal experiences.

[ QUOTE ]
Have you ever watched the Discovery Channel and watched true nature in action?

[/ QUOTE ]

I have been on safari in Africa several times and have seen live lion kills. I do not know why that would change any of my beliefs as to what type of conduct humans should engae in and what standard we should be held to.

Moreover, I would posit that the lives of these prey animals in the wild, while not easy by any measure, is far better than the captive animals in today's factory farms.

[Mercsgrl]

[ QUOTE ]
also when you're vegan, you pretty much have to eat a fair amount of soy, which can make you a less manly man (depending who you ask)



[/ QUOTE ]

I DO NOT eat meat...and I hate soy so that's not true. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

I don't eat meat beacuse I dont like it...I dont eat seafood either... I really dont eat anything that was living.

/images/graemlins/heart.gifStef /images/graemlins/heart.gif

[deadmoney98]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
No - bacon tastes good, pork chops taste good. [b]Sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know cause I wouldn't touch the filthy m0therf0cker [b]

[/ QUOTE ]

Etc

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP

[CORed]

Vegetables are not food. Vegetables are what food eats.

Fruits are vegetables that try to fool you by tasting good.

Mushrooms are something that grows on vegetables after foods done with them.

[ QUOTE ]

No. Please re-read my post as tried to describe the evolution of my beliefs. I believe that animals have a general right not to be hunted for food and be eaten for food. For purposes of that post I decided not to get all bogged down in rights theory. Howeverm in arriving at my beliefs I initially decidd that regardless of the ultimate question of animal rights I could not condone the intensive factory farming that occurs here and abroad.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, your factory farming argument makes sense, but I’m still not following your reasoning on not killing at all. Are you saying that animals have an intrinsic right to life; therefore, it’s absolutely wrong to kill them?

If my understanding is correct, I’m curious how you defend this position. It’s not amoral for a lion to hunt and kill prey. Is it wrong for a person to swat a fly? What about killing a rodent with a mouse trap? I just don’t see where you can draw a line.

Just curious… are you Buddhist? That would make sense, though nothing in your posts alludes to that.

[FeliciaLee]

I always thought a plain vegetarian ate poultry and seafood, dairy and eggs, whereas there were people who limited themselves further by not eating the dairy (lacto-vegetarian), not eating dairy nor eggs (lacto-ovo), not eating anything that comes from an animal (vegan), etc.

Who knows, I never got into the culture, I just didn't like the taste of meat.

Felicia /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Marlow]

[ QUOTE ]
This is the short answer?

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow. Is that supposed to be clever?

[Marlow]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This is the short answer?

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow. Is that supposed to be clever?

[/ QUOTE ]

Reread his post. Actually, it was clever.

I'm a superdork.

Please forgive me.

[tom441lbk]

screw em, order the steak, and tell the waiter 'ship it'

[Blarg]

I've been one and not been one, and been what I am now, which I consider a "sort-of" vegetarianism. I eat chicken and fish, but pretty moderately, and eat red meat pretty rarely. All in all, I can go for months without eating meat without even thinking about it, then eat some without going through moral convulsions.

The reasons? Health in the abstract sense -- because my genetic history has a hell of a lot of heart disease, including multiple cardiac bypasses in it -- and health in the sense where you can really feel it. I feel much more energetic and less weighed down when I stay away from heavy foods, especially red meat. That winds up making my mood pick up, resulting in a happier, more positive dude.

My stomach feels less bloated and I crap more. I just feel lighter and happier.

The reasons not to? I seem to do poorly on a diet high in starches and red meats. They make me fat, irregular, and low energy to the point of being sleepy a lot.. And I do very well on a mostly vegetarian diet spiked with fish and chicken. A little meat protein actually perks me up, too, and has some staying power so I'm feeling less hungry less often. But without making me feel like I'm walking around carrying a brick in my gut or wedged up my ass all the time.

I do it for me, to the extent and when I do it. But the more I've read about how damaging things like cattle raising is to the environment, and the more cruelty has dropped away from me as I've become a little older and wiser, the better I've felt about keeping my meat consumption very low. I don't have a problem or look down up people that feel differently, because I don't need to tell people how to live or yell at them for choices they either feel okay about or are not in a place to be able to comfortably change anyway. In short, I like the moral and environmental aspects of either full or what I'd call "partial" vegetarianism. They've become more of an interesting part of it, but they didn't get me into vegetarianism and aren't what makes me continue.